Poll: Majority of Texans Think Immigration Helps More than Hurts US

A majority of Texans, 62 percent, believe immigration helps the country more than it hurts it. That’s according to a new poll released Tuesday by the Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit leadership group. It’s the organization’s first deep dive into the issue of immigration in its 11-year polling history.

The poll also found the younger the respondent, the more positively they view immigration.

“Across a couple of different areas in this poll we found, the younger cohort, for lack of a better term, as having a little bit more liberal attitude on immigration, which makes sense in Texas where that younger age group is much more diverse than the older Texans,” Joshua Blank, Texas Lyceum Research Director, said.

The poll of 1000 Texans was conducted April 3rd through April 9th and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

It also focused on President Donald Trump’s border wall and found that most Texas adults (61 percent) continue to oppose it.

The group also looked at where Texans stand on “sanctuary city” policies, when local police or other local authorities do not automatically report undocumented immigrants to federal officials. The issue has been a big debate among lawmakers at the Texas Capitol this session.

But more than 90 percent of Texans believe local police should be allowed to check immigration status when a person is arrested for a crime. That suggests more Texans would support a bill the House is currently considering, which limits asking about immigration status to people that have already been arrested. The Senate has passed legislation that would allow local police to ask about immigration status if a person is either arrested or detained.

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